Lessons From The Felt: Advanced Strategies And Tactics For No-limit Hold'em Tournaments. David Apostolico

I avoid engaging my opponent as much as possible.

      Players will often try to get others involved. At a recent tournament at the Trump Classic, two players saw the hand all the way to the river. Player One checked and then believing that Player Two checked as well, Player One turned over his hand. Player Two immediately said that he still hadn’t acted. Player One then turned his cards back over and got really upset accusing Player Two of angle shooting in order to see his cards. Player One showed a hand of K-J with a board of 9-J-2-J-6. Player Two then made a huge bet. Player One called without hesitation. Player Two turned over J-10, and Player One won a big pot. Player One continued to berate Player Two and asked everyone at the table to back him up. I didn’t say a word, even though I knew that Player Two had never checked. Player One even went as far as to hit the player next to him on the arm and said “You saw it, right?” If this happens to you, the best thing is just to say that you weren’t paying attention.

      College Night

      Not to be deterred, I thought I would venture out and check out another bar/restaurant poker night. This one attracted a younger crowd of mostly college-age people. The event offered one first-place prize of a $100 gift certificate to the hosting restaurant. We started with about fifty people, and I could tell immediately that the level of play was much better. At least most players had a decent understanding of the fundamentals of the game. The biggest mistakes were still made by players betting or raising less than the minimum. I largely ignored these mistakes. The only time I did intervene was when one player did not understand how he could lose a pot holding pocket fours when the board showed 10-10-8-8-2. His opponent had an ace. I’m still not sure that this guy understood that he had two pair (tens and eights) with a four kicker. But there were enough people at the table who did understand, so our player with pocket fours reluctantly gave up the pot.

      I spent most of the night keeping quiet and studying the other players. Most of the college-age crowd could easily be typecast into typical cliques—the jock, the bookworm, the partier, and so on. At that age, I think many people not only live up to their reputations but relish them. What was interesting, though, is that I found no correlation between stereotype and playing style. Every player seemed to have his own unique style. Some of the jocks liked to bluff and others were calling stations. The same situation was true with the other stereotypes.

      While I pride myself on being able to read people, this got me to thinking whether I am quick to make judgments of my opponents even if they don’t fit into a neat stereotype. It’s almost impossible not to come to some sort of judgment based on how someone is dressed or how he talks and walks. If nothing else, this night served as a reminder to me not to judge a player by his appearance. I want to make sure I am making sound judgments based on playing habits and my thorough read of an opponent’s unique personality.

      How did the night end up? I went out at the final table when I pushed all-in with pocket Jacks. I was called by A-10 and an ace came on the flop.